Kumamoto/Japan. Indian badminton players have made a great start in the Kumamoto Masters Japan Super 500 tournament. In the women's doubles, the pair of Gayatri Gopichand and Trisa Jolly performed strongly and defeated the local Japanese pair in straight games in the first round and secured a place in the pre-quarterfinals. In the men's doubles, the pair of Hariharan Amsakarunan and MR Arjun also reached the next round.
In the match played on Tuesday, World Championship bronze medalist Indian pair Gayatri and Trisa defeated Japan's Hinata Suzuki and Nao Yamakita 21-17, 21-14 in a match that lasted 42 minutes. The Indian players displayed excellent coordination and aggressive play in both the games and overcame the Japanese challenge in front of the home crowd.
Malaysian pair left the match due to injury
In men's doubles, the pair of Hariharan Amsakarunan and MR Arjun did not have to stay on the court for long to reach the next round. In front of them was the Malaysian pair of Aaron Chia and Soh Wui Yik, but just six minutes after the start of the match, the Malaysian players left the match due to injury. At that time the Indian pair was leading 11-6 in the first game.
Satwik-Chirag out of the tournament
Meanwhile, India's men's doubles pair Satwiksairaj Rankireddy-Chirag Shetty and women's singles player Malvika Bansod withdrew from the tournament after initially being listed to compete. Lakshya Sen will start his campaign on Wednesday. In men's doubles, Hariharan Amskarunan and MR Arjun advanced after third seeds Aaron Chia and Soh Wui Yik of Malaysia retired hurt from their opening round match. When the match ended prematurely, the world number 29 Indians were leading the fourth-ranked Malaysian pair 11-6.
In the pre-quarterfinals, Hariharan and Arjun will face the winner of the first round match between Takuro Hoki-Yugo Kobayashi of Japan and qualifiers Hung Kui Chun-Louis Chun Wai of Hong Kong, China. Earlier, Dhruv Kapila and Radhika Sharma crashed out of the mixed doubles qualifiers after losing 21-16, 21-15 to USA's Chen Xie Yi and Francesca Corbett.
Indian pair made a strong comeback
The world number 20 Indian pair defeated their 13th-ranked opponents 21-17, 21-14 in 42 minutes in the opening round of the BWF Super 500 badminton tournament at the Kumamoto Prefectural Gymnasium. This was the first clash between the two pairs. Suzuki and Yamakita, who won the Canada Open earlier this year, finished runner-up at the Denmark Open Super 750 last month. Meanwhile, Trisa and Gayatri were competing for the first time after their preliminary round exit at the French Open last month.
The Indian pair, after finding themselves 8-4 down in the opening game, took control of the match by winning the next seven points and took an 11-8 lead at the interval. Suzuki and Yamakita trailed by one point at 13–12, but Treesa and Gayatri responded by winning three consecutive points and maintained their advantage to close out the opening game. The second game was a one-sided affair, with the Indians never allowing their Japanese opponents to gain the lead. Treesa and Gayatri went into the interval with a seven-point lead and, despite a late fight from Suzuki and Yamakita, easily sealed the tie in straight games.
Treesa-Gayathri will next face third seeds and world No. 5 Japan's Rin Iwanaga and Ki Nakanishi in the round of 16. In the head-to-head record, both the pairs are tied at 1-1. Treesa and Gayatri won their most recent encounter 21-16, 21-12 in the Round of 16 at the BWF World Championships in New Delhi earlier this year.
Dhruv-Radhika lost in mixed doubles
However, India faced disappointment in the mixed doubles. The pair of Dhruv Kapila and Radhika Sharma had to face defeat in the first round of qualifying. American pair Chen Zi Yi and Francesca Corbett won the match by defeating the Indian pair 21-16, 21-15. In this way, the opening day of the tournament was a mixed bag for the Indian players.